The prodigious Duplantis cleared 6.24m in Xiamen for his eighth world record and secured victory in Suzhou with a meet record of 6.00m. The bar was immediately raised to 6.25m, but it proved to be too much for Duplantis, who was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, USA, but competes for Sweden.

While the reigning Olympic champion came close on his final attempt, he couldn't quite make it, but it was enough to win the competition in Suzhou, a city west of Shanghai.

"There's always a bit of a crash after a big performance like I had last week, but of course I still felt good today," said the record-breaking athlete.

"I knew I had to push a little bit harder, it didn't come as naturally as it did last week because that's just the way it feels."

"I felt a little flat today, but still really good. I just feel that the conditions have to be perfect for me to jump a world record and I didn't quite feel it off the track tonight," added the 24-year-old Swede.

In other results, world 100m champion Sha'Carri Richardson suffered another upset in the women's 200m, finishing third in 23.11 behind Britain's Daryll Neita, who won in 22.62, and American Anavia Battle in 22.99.

"I came here praying and hoping to win," said Neita, who began her season on the road to the Paris Olympics. "To come out here and win it, in a decent time, in such a strong field, makes me feel really confident going forward."

South Africa's Akani Simbine won the men's 100 meters with a time of 10.01 seconds ahead of American Christian Coleman, who admitted: "I was expecting a better performance, but I am happy with today's result, I ran my personal best today.

Meanwhile, the winner said: "With Coleman, you just have to know that he's going to come out, (you have to) stick to the plan we agreed on, focus on your own race."

Fred Kerley, the 2022 world champion and Olympic silver medalist, completed the podium in 10.11 seconds. Nigeria's world record-holder Tobi Amusan was disqualified from the women's 100m hurdles after a false start, and Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico took first place in a photo finish in 12.63 seconds.

Ethiopia's Mekedes Alemeshete also won the women's 5,000 meters to take the world lead with a new personal record of 14:36.70.